Pg 069: Nuts and bolts

 

In one of my homeschool workshops entitled, “The Nuts and Bolts of Homeschooling,”  I distribute little plastic bags with a mixture of nuts and bolts in them. Metric, standard, a few sheet metal screws, and wood screws, too.

 

I ask the people who get the bags to dump them out on the table, and screw the nuts onto the bolts.

 

I encourage them to keep trying; but finally they tell me they’re done -- no more can be matched. So I encourage them to try fitting pieces with other people’s pieces.  They get some to match and they go a little longer.

 

I point out that homeschooling is like this -- there are many textbooks, many resources, many opportunities, but not all of them fit with your child.  Some pieces are mismatched, some are good for somebody else, but not good for YOUR homeschool program.

 

Yes, eventually some fit, but it takes time and you realize that some things will never fit.  Ignore those things and use things that do fit.